The beginning of my trip was filled with some wonderful surprises, including meeting my coach, Larry, after working with him for about 5 months now. After a 24 hour day of travel, consisting of three plane rides (MIA->DC, DC->LAX, LAX->KONA), lots of sitting, and minimal sleeping/eating, I arrived in KONA, Hawaii Tuesday night. My friend Mike Danish (also competing in the race), was kind enough to pick up an exhausted and hungry triathlete friend from the airport at 9PM and drop me off at my hotel. Immediately after checking my hotel room for bedbugs and then dropping my bags, I ripped open my checked bag to uncover a Tupperware of delicious muffins my friends Mark and Rebecca cooked up for me! Needless to say, after skipping lunch and dinner, more than half of the 20-some muffins were consumed within five minutes. After hopping into bed and sleeping for a few hours, 2AM rolled around and the jetlag kicked in. I woke up with a grumbling stomach and the feeling that I would not be getting too much more sleep that night.